Vermont Travel Notes

We have had several guests over the years tell us that they have taken tours by Bike Vermont and recommend the company very highly.

Bike Vermont offers 38 foliage tours and they still have some openings this year. The tours vary in length from three days up to six days, and range in cost from the low $400's to mid $1300's including lodging at some of Vermont's best inns.

Their website has a handy map with towns highlighted to see what part of the state each tour covers.

For example, the October 3 - 5 Churchill House Inn and Shoreham Inn tours have opening, and during the week of October 5 - 10 , the Historic Windsor County and Swift House Inn tours have openings.

And there is one discounted special you should take a look at: the "greatest views imaginable" on the Moose Mountain Lodge four day tour October 10- 13. The price has been reduced from $715 to $595. I wish I weren't working then - I would love to take this tour.

Other tours have openings and they do get the occasional cancellation so it would be best to call (800-257-2226) or email them to get the latest information.

I notice that they "strongly" recommend travel insurance. In fact, Bike Vermont even sends an insurance application with each confirmation. Recommending travel insurance is something I have been thinking might be good for me to recommend to our guests.

We've been running our inn about 8 1/2 years and in that time had just a very few guests who had a problem while traveling. One case involved a woman who got pneumonia while traveling through New Jersey and had to cancel her New England trip because she was hospitalized.

A few years ago, we had a couple here for a four night stay but their daughter got sick back home and they had to leave after just one night here.

There have been a few others out of thousands of reservations we've had over the years. But it's like most insurance: the vast majority of it goes unused.

Located in Woodstock VT, Bike Vermont is in its 32nd year of offering a wide range of Vermont tours during the spring and summer too. They also have tours in Maine, Ireland, Scotland, and Italy. You are welcome to ride your own bicycle but they have them available if you do not want to bring yours.

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor

I came across an exciting new Vermont blog recently and was highly impressed with its quality and scope. It is called Travel-Vermont.Net and is just a few months old but already has compiled a long list of articles about touring Vermont.

They are well written and usually have a good photograph to go along with them. The information is fresh and the author's insights are very helpful.

Christine Sawyer is the blog owner. She is prior resident of nearby Quebec and her blog is available in French as well as English. She and I have similar backgrounds in marketing communications . . . my status is former and hers is current - she owns Birchwood Ridge Group, a marketing and advertising firm here in Vermont. She has an interesting history you can read in the Our Story page of the website.

There is a useful and accurate Search function on the site but no RSS feed that I could find. Maybe that's just as well - I have a lot of feeds coming in. I try feeds for a while to see how often and how useful they are. The list can get long but it's easy enough to trim them from time to time.

This is an excellent resource for people planning to travel to Vermont. Over the last two or three years, I've seen about a half dozen Vermont blogs show up and then fade away after a few months. This one looks like it has staying power because it has a capable and motivated person behind it.

There is no doubt in my mind that Travel-Vermont.Net is a very valuable resource for Vermont and will help both tourists and the state's travel industry.

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor

Rare REO railbus (REO was a truck manufacturer that eventually added automobile manufacturing using the last name of its founder, Ransom E. Olds: Oldsmobile.

Railroad buffs should head over to White River Junction VT for the 16th Annual Glory Days of Railroad Festival this Saturday, September 6, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (Rain or Shine)

Adult admission is just $3 but excursion train ride is extra.

The VT Chamber of Commerce has twice (five years ago and last year) named the event a Top 10 Fall Event.

In addition to the railroad equipment displays and excursion train rides, there will be food, music, antique car show, and crafts.

This event is produced by the New England Transportation Museum located in the White River Junction Amtrak station. It has displays available year around if you can't make it to Glory Days.

When you are in the area, I recommend visiting two of my all time favorite towns: Hanover NH, home of Ivy League Dartmouth College, and Woodstock VT. It's my opinion that Woodstock is one of the prettiest villages in New England. There is a lot to see and do there including the Marsh Billings Rockefeller Park and Billings Farm and Museum, a very good place to take the kids too.



(c) 2008 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus Inn

And naturally it's in Vermont, world center of tiny towns and villages located in the middle of nowhere.

I have John Hughes to thank for placing this photo on his wonderful Megapickles website. I cropped the sign photo from a much larger photo of a nice looking field in Podunk so click on the link to see a better image.

I have written about his website several times previously because it one of my favorites and is superbly well done I think - a new photograph every day! To see a wonderful series of pastoral Vermont photos, check this month's photos. One great Vermont photograph after another.

Google Maps says there are Podunks in CT, PA, and two in MI. Two! Whoever heard of two towns in the same state with the same name?

Vermont's Podunk is located in the southern part of the state so if you are going to be in the Brattleboro, Bennington, Manchester area, you can take a nice drive in the country to see it. Don't forget to take your camera so you can have bragging rights that you have been everywhere including Podunk.

And finally, there is a website called ePodunk that I have used a few times to do some research. It has good statistics and other information on most every town and city in the US including our beloved Podunk VT.

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor (except the photo above by John Hughes,Megapickles )

Stowe's Mount Mansfield, the highest peak in Vermont at about 4400 feet

Stowe Resort has a good email newsletter they send out weekly and the latest issue has a very nice photo I thought I would include here. The Inside Line focuses on news about Stowe Resort but there's always a lot going on year around which usually makes for interesting reading.

I cropped and reduced the photo to get it to fit in this blog but you can click on the newsletter link above to see it better. If the photo is different when you view the page, just click your browser's reload button. It may be removed in the future to make way for other photos.

The building shown on the mountain is the Cliff House restaurant which is serving lunch this time of year but not dinner (with the exception of once a month special dinners).

I assume the photo was taken from the Toll Road which runs all the way to the top of the mountain. It's a trip I recommend often to our guests. The drive takes about 20 minutes and is well worth the $23 toll per car (no bicycles or motorcycles are allowed but you can walk it if you want). You can see rates on all Stowe's summer activities here.

The view from the top of the mountain is magnificent of course. There is a ranger station at the top and I suggest asking the ranger for directions to "Frenchman's Pile" a pile of rocks where you have a 360 degree view. You can easily see Burlington and Lake Champlain below, the Adirondack mountains of New York to the west, Vermont's Worcester Mountain Range to the east, and on clear days, the White Mountains of New Hampshire farther to the East.

The toll road will probably be closed all day this Sunday for the Race to the Top of Vermont, a foot and bicycle race.

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus

The Vermont State Fair, the state's second largest fair, is getting started this weekend for a week long run while the Champlain County Fair, the state's largest fair, will be finishing Monday.

The state fair, now is its 163rd year, is in Rutland and the Champlain fair is in Essex Junction. Directions for both events are on their web sites.

(c) 2008 Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus